Well, some governments, including China's, were trying to stop
the signings from even getting started in their countries. Meanwhile,
though, the Execs got Arnold - you know, the Ahnold - on board as
spokesman and Commander-In-Chief of the Peace Force-In-Waiting,
with Stallone - you know, Sly - and Bruce - yup, Willis - Kurt Russell,
Kevvy Sorbo and Stevie Segall as "deputies". And they announced,
through the Navajo chiefs at the concert, and over the internet, that
the first WPG contributions would be used to buy and get computers
around the world for the signatures to be collected. The remainder
would go to legal and logistical expenses and the rest. They also
reported how well the contributions were flowing in. And the
volunteers.
        Governments, unfortunately, were flowing in on them just as
well. But the legal team had it bottlenecked. The WPG would proceed.
It was the First Amendment plus. Polls were taken that Monday, of
course, that showed 79 percent of the people living in the world were
all for the WPG. The rest were predominately unaware, as yet.
Anyway, the signature effort was filling the nets, plus the computer
makers' backlogs.
        Thus the first day of the WPG era was spent and exhausted.
The next day, our warriors dug out the rest of the jewels and more
Plat, and everyone up at the ranch who hadn't gotten a jewel got one
presented to them in full ceremony. They also started the new cabin
and got the satellite dishes up on the roofs.
        That night, under the dissipated storm clouds, they flew Juliet
down to Espanola and got her pushed into the hangar that Wallace had
rented from his 'migos. Kit and Jess had filled Kenja in on the plane
some. But she had no problems. She had already tendered her
resignation from her former empoyers, being much much happier
where she was. They got the baffles, mufflers and cowling, with all its
bolt holes, off and under a tarp in Wallo's truckbed, then stripped all
the paint off before dawn, in case anyone was going to peak in as Kit
and Jul told Wallace the story on the plane. And Wally was dam proud
to be a part of it.
        After naps and breakfast, they were all back in the mine. And,
by the weekend, they had practically all the Platinum blown and dug
out, Juliet-Papa all repainted and looking normal - even the dents
taken out as much as they could - and Pute and Cy downloading from
satellites at up to 1,ooo kbps. That's fast, folks. They owned the edge.
Our three had also built a fourth hologram set in early morning
"private" hours.
        Josh told the getaway from Kentucky story out at the fire, for
Kenja primarily, the night the dogs chased the agents down the
mountain again. And there had been the small plane flying and
circling over the ranch for a couple days. But they couldn't do anything
about that except keep the smoking indoors. Josh's story, though, had
reminded Kit that the 310 was still parked at Lunken. And Kit laughed
with Jess about how he had gone years without a plane and now had
more than he was keeping track of. But Cincy was still holding an eye
on Romeo, they knew, though it surely must be straying a little.
        There were more important matters, though. The guys were
ordering computers of their own to be loaded aboard some new (used)
North Air planes in Seattle. And they would be heading up there within
hours. They had also taken almost $2oo million of Platinum out of the
mountain, working around the clock, and the pickup was scheduled,
BR to be sending up his assistant, Heather, in the morning to take care
of it.
        The week had also been a winner for the WPG - $8oo million in
contributions and 4oo million signatures, mostly out of the US, Canada
and Europe. The next week's plans were for penetration into South
America, Africa, India and Asia. The lawyers and the "commanders"
were fighting off the injunctions, threats and such. The computer
companies were going 24 hours a day to build the needed units. The
WPG Council were finally all on board and in close touch with the
Execs. And Joni and Julio were safe in Costa Rica and planning their
return to Sundance's hacienda in New Mexico.

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